History

The tower was built to be exactly the same height as the Siena Cathedral as a sign that the church and the state had equal amounts of power.[nb 1]

Literally meaning 'Tower of the Eater', the name refers to its first bellringer, Giovanni di Balduccio, nicknamed Mangiaguadagni ('eat-the-profits', or, 'profit eater') for his spendthrift tendency[4] or his idleness[5] or gluttony.[6]

Sections

The tower has visually distinct levels, from the top:

a short pale-gray upper loggia

a marble (uppermost) structure.

a stone section that flares out slightly

a long red brick shaft

Statues on the loggia.

The marble loggia on the top, known as Cappella di Piazza, was added in 1352 as a vow for the Holy Virgin by the Sienese survivors from the Black Death. The pilaster were remade in the current form in 1378, the sculptures decorating them being executed in 1378-1382 by Mariano d'Angelo Romanelli e Bartolomeo di Tommé. The simple wooden ceiling once covering the loggia was replaced by the current Renaissance marble vault in 1461-1468 by Antonio Federighi, also author of the bizarre decorations of the coronation. In 1537-1539 Il Sodoma painted a fresco over the altar, now housed in the town museum in the Palazzo Pubblico.

The upper-middle part in stone was realized by Agostino di Giovanni under design by one Mastro Lippo pittore, probably identifiable with Lippo Memmi. It consists of a parapet resting on corbels. The pronounced petal-like arches between the corbels have led writers to describe the structure as a tulip[7] or lily.[8]

The clock on the lower part of the shaft was added in 1360. There are three bells, the greatest one is called the "Sunto".

The walls of the tower are approximately 3 m (9.8 ft) thick on each side.

The tower at the Pine Street Inn in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts, formerly a fire station and fire watch tower, is also modeled after the Torre del Mangia. Boston's tower, which is 48 m (157 ft) tall, designed and built in 1892 by Edmund March Wheelwright, is made of brick like the Italian original and was originally designed as part of the central fire station and used as a fire lookout.[9][10][11][12]

The Dock Tower in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, UK was built in 1852 and stands 94 m (308 ft) tall. Its function was as an hydraulic tower to open the lock gates of the Royal Dock. Although obsolete from 1892 onward, the tower remains as a proud monument to the town and its rich fishing history.

The main building of the Spanish business & law school, ICADE, located in Madrid is topped with a clock tower patterned after the Torre de Mangia.

References

^ abSmith, Timothy B.; Steinhoff, Judith Belle (2012). Art as Politics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 20. ISBN978-1-4094-0066-0. ...to compensate for the possible perception of inequality between civic and ecclesiastical authorities, the torre del Mangia (the tower of the city hall) was designed to be uniquely tall among Italian town halls and to reach to the same absolute height as the bell tower of the Cathedral, which sat on the highest hill in Siena.